Housing market starting to cool off in Colorado Springs

Local housing industry experts said the red-hot Colorado Springs real estate market is finally cooling off after several years of record sales and construction.

Experts said the trend will become more noticeable during the next two years.The results, experts said, will be lower home prices, higher interest rates and supply getting closer to meeting demand.
Still, demand will continue to be among the strongest in the country during that period, experts said — just not in the top 10 as it has been.

Last week, the website realtors.com rated the 80922 ZIP code in northeast Colorado Springs as the second-hottest nationally for home purchases but that likely will change as “for sale” signs become more common.

“It could slow down the buyers,” said Amy Reid, chief executive officer of the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors. “Hopefully, there will be a little bit of a market correction, because we don’t want to see the 11 percent growth every year on housing prices.”

Bill McAfee, of Empire Title, who has been closing home sales since 1991, said he doesn’t expect a market correction to be as significant as during the 2008 economic recession.

“The market was so hot, it really had nowhere to go but down,” he said. “What we saw the last few years here, and particularly this year, is nothing we’ve seen before. Competition from Denver-area buyers and supply that isn’t meeting demand are what put the market in this situation.”

The changing trend could help buyers like Aslan Guthrie, who closed on a home Thursday after looking for almost a year.

“I finally got someone to accept my offer on a house that I liked,” he said. “I guess other people offered more when I tried before. It’s been quite an experience, and I’m glad it’s over. I found what I wanted.”